1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to marking instruments which deploy edible coloring liquid on objects and in particular to novel capillary feed marking instruments capable of producing edible colored indicia directly on food substrates and medicaments.
2. Description of the Related Art
Toys, pens, and other devices are available which deploy edible inks onto other objects to label or provide color indicia to other objects.
Certain of these apparatus are constructed and adapted to deploy an edible ink or dye to food products such as bakery goods, cakes, pies, and the like.
For example, conventional cake decorating mediums include gels, icing, or decorative objects. Typically, icing, or gel is available in squeeze tubes with decorative tips. The user may write on or decorate the cake or other food item by squeezing the tube to force colored gel or icing through the desired tip. Food coloring, available in concentrated form in squeeze bottles, cannot be applied directly to a food surface, bleeds uncontrollably, and is extremely messy.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,287 to Golchert discloses a process of decorating a food item by transferring a preprinted or original two-dimensional design using moisture to effect the transfer. The process includes placing a sheet of transfer medium. Such as tissue paper, over the design to be traced. The design is traced on the transfer medium (not the food item) using edible ink. Alternatively, the design may be drawn originally on the transfer medium. The transfer medium is then placed on the food item to be decorated with the colored side down, and a damp pad is placed on the back face of the transfer medium. This causes the traced design to become partially dissolved and thereby be transferred to the food item to be decorated. To protect the original picture from the ink used to trace or copy the picture, a shield is placed over the picture before tracing. The user may fill in the transferred design using colored frosting or gels, or may use the two-dimensional design as is.
However among the known apparatus, the construction of the instrument to deploy the edible ink is not adapted for the delicate procedure of depositing the ink in an exacting manner on delicate food such as bakery goods. In Such devices, the ink bleeds and stains uncontrollably. In other known systems and methods, a combination of steps and features are necessary in order to reliably and accurately deposit the ink on the food product. This provides for numerous, unnecessary steps, which in a commercial environment reduces cost effectiveness of marking the product. In addition, where certain of the known devices are used, the plurality of steps to deploy the edible ink on the food product and the additional structural features of the apparatus complicate the marking procedure of the food product, thereby reducing the enjoyment of the marking procedure. When such is the case, it is not uncommon for the dye mark to "bleed" on the food product or to be inaccurately displayed.
There is a need for a device which would enable a user to neatly and without mess decorate food, medicaments, and other comestibles, hereinafter referred to as "food substrates", without the user having to pre-mix or directly contact the dyes used to decorate the food substrate. It would therefore be desirable to have a marker or series of markers in various colors and hues capable of deploying edible food dyes directly onto a food substrate, regardless of the physical consistency of the food substrate, in a reliable accurate manner without involving a series of steps or supporting structures in which to transfer the dye onto the food substrate.